Could interactive media help save the airline industry? Virgin America subtly transforms air travel by empowering customers-at the touch of a button.(MediaWorks)

Advertising Age, April, 2008 by dumenco, simon

Byline: simon dumenco

Earlier this month, as the airline industry was imploding once again-with American Airlines grounding hundreds of thousands of passengers during its faulty-wiring debacle, and as pilots were talking about possibly grounding the proposed Delta-Northwest merger for fear of getting burned in contract talks-I was happily flying on my new favorite airline, Virgin America. An airline that, amazingly, knows how to make passengers happy because it understands not just the business of travel but the art of interactive media.

No surprise there: Virgin America, a cousin of Virgin Atlantic, was founded by media master Richard Branson.

First, I should note that certain elements of Virgin America's aesthetics are a bit too...

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